Thursday, September 15, 2011
State Student Assistance Chief Busted For Drunk Driving
The woman Gov. Mitch Daniels put in charge of the State Student Assistance Commission, Claudia Braman, has been busted for drunk driving in Johnson County. The blood alcohol level reported by police is off the charts--0.32, which is four times the legal limit of .08. WRTV reports that Johnson County police stopped Braman because she was texting while driving and her vehicle swerved nearly hitting a mailbox. Braman worked for the Princeton Review and Franklin College prior to joining the Daniels administration in 2008.
Plowman Guilty On Both Charges
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| U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett speaking to reporters with lead attorney Richard Pilger |
At a press conference following the announcement of the verdict, U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett told reporters that "public office is not for sale" in Indiana. "No one is above the law," he said. "These words need to be tested and they were in this court." Hogsett said the government intends to hold Plowman accountable for selling influence and soliciting a bribe by seeking the maximum sentence allowed by law. He also had a message for other public officials. "If you are in public life or public office, you will be held accountable by this U.S. Attorney's Office." "It's a message for all elected officials throughout Indiana." Hogsett thanked the government's lead trial attorney, Richard Pilger, and Joe Vaughn, the criminal chief in his office, for their roles in prosecuting the government's case, as well as the FBI team that worked on the case with special mention to Agent Booz Moise. Hogsett would neither confirm nor deny there are ongoing public corruption investigations by his office when asked by reporters.
During a hearing following the announcement of the verdict, Plowman pleaded for mercy from Judge McKinney in allowing him to remain free on his own recognizance until his sentencing. Plowman told the court he is trying to support his family financially by working at a medical device firm in Greenwood, Indiana running a punch press, a job he has held for the last year. The government's lawyers opposed his release and requested his immediate detention, arguing that he had valuable training as an undercover officer producing aliases and false documents and had owned a large stash of high-powered weapons and ammunition. The government said Plowman had travelled to Costa Rica extensively during the years prior to his arrest and had the means to escape his punishment.
Judge McKinney sided with the arguments of Plowman's attorney, Jim Voyles, who noted that Plowman surrendered all of his weapons, had turned over his passport and complied with all of the terms set out by the court since his initial arraignment in September, 2010. Plowman told the court a probation officer had searched his home for weapons to confirm he no longer had any in his possession and that he had reported in to the government weekly since his initial arraignment as required. Judge McKinney subjected his release to home detention, making exceptions for him to travel to work, church, doctor's visits or other places consistent with the federal guidelines for home detention.
During the government's arguments, Pilger indicated that the minimum sentence for Plowman's offenses would be between 41 to 51 months in prison. He hinted that the minimum could be as high as 71 months, or six years, if the government elects to press for sentencing enhancement for what he described as "obstruction of justice" resulting from Plowman's testimony on his own behalf.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A Tale Of Two Plowmans Emerges
Lincoln Plowman took the witness stand in his own defense today in his public corruption trial. Under the able direction of his defense attorney, Jim Voyles, Plowman presented what appeared to be a sincere presentation of his version of the events that led to his indictment on charges of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe from an undercover agent. His voice was weakened by a cold, and he had to stop occasionally to clear his voice and take a drink of water, but he very calmly described how he believed he was conducting honest part-time work for a real business owner seeking to open a new strip club in Indianapolis. When Plowman faced cross-examination by the government's lead prosecutor later, however, a different man emerged.
Voyles began the day by playing to jurors a recorded phone conversation between FBI agent Brian Ace and Plowman made in December, 2009 near the time of his final meeting with the undercover agent. Plowman had called him on behalf of employees working at a west side strip club who said someone had been in the club representing himself as an FBI agent conducting an investigation and that he wanted to confirm the agent was one of their employees. Ace was returning a call to Plowman, who had already received confirmation that the person in question indeed was an FBI agent from another agent, Wendy Osborne. During the conversation, the two discussed the fact that the FBI was going to interview Plowman about Kerry Forrestal, a person with whom Plowman had worked in the Sheriff's Department, who had been nominated to the U.S. Marshal's position for the Southern District of Indiana. The recording suggested Plowman had a good, professional working relationship with the local FBI office at the time.
Voyles had Plowman lay out his biographical narrative, a native of Greensburg who served in the Army for three years following his graduation from high school in 1981. He returned home where he got a job working for the Decatur Co. Sheriff's Department and worked part-time as the New Point town marshal. After attending ISU for two years without earning a degree, he got a job working for the Hamilton Co. Sheriff's Department. A few months later he got a call and accepted employment with the Marion Co. Sheriff's Department where he really wanted to work. He explained the various jobs he had at the county jail and road patrol as he grew in rank and power within the Department. Plowman joined IMPD in January, 2007 upon the merger of the Sheriff's Department law enforcement division with the Indianapolis Police Department to form the newly formed agency at the rank of lieutenant. In a short period of time, he would rise to the appointed rank of a major working in investigations where he had served in a vice commander's position over vice operations.
At the same time he was building his career in law enforcement, Plowman explained to jurors his involvement in the Marion Co. Republican Party, beginning as a precinct committeeperson and later becoming a ward chairman. After he met and married his wife, Christina Nye, he settled down in Franklin Township where her family resided. He volunteered to serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals, an appointed position he held for about three years. In 2003, he successfully ran for the City-County Council in District 25 and was re-elected in 2007. In 2008, he became the Majority Leader and served as the Chairman of the Metropolitan Development Committee.
During his time as a law enforcement officer in Marion County, Plowman explained to jurors how he had always worked part-time jobs. He provided security work and services for banks, jewelry stores, gas stations, the Indiana Pacers, Duke Realty and the homes of business executives, among others. When the Little Bit of Texas country-western club opened in a beat he worked on the city's westside, he developed a close relationship with Michael Webb, an assistant manager for the club. Plowman freely acknowledged that he frequently visited the club while off duty and received comped food, drinks and admissions, a practice he described as common for police officers. Later, when Webb went to work for PT's Showclub after he had worked another job out of town, he renewed his friendship and frequently visited him at his new place of employment and received comped benefits just as he had at Little Bit of Texas.
Plowman described how that personal relationship grew into a business relationship with PT's that paid him $1,000 a month, including a $2,500 bonus to cover work he had performed for the club since January, 2005. Plowman described his work for the club as relating to both security and political work. He also related his appointment of persons to the Board of Zoning Appeals as a councilor. He denied that he knew Larry Walker and only recommended his appointment based upon the recommendation of Cindy Mowery. He said he would nominate candidates for board positions automatically in his role as Chairman of the Metropolitan Development Committee regardless of whether it was his own personal choice. He did, however, acknowledge that he made the decision to appoint his long-time friend and campaign manager, Brad Klopfenstein, to the BZA.
Voyles had Plowman explain the reason he used the 7915 S. Emerson address and the alias "Steve Rogers." Plowman said it was nothing more than a post office box address at a local UPS store, but that police officers commonly protect their true address because of the nature of their work and fear of retaliation from people they encounter in their official business. He said the "Steve Rogers" was his undercover name he used in limited undercover vice work he performed as an IMPD officer. He said he had an Indiana driver's license issued using his alias as well. Plowman also detailed the security work and legislative tracking work he did while working for PT's.
Voyles then asked Plowman to describe the circumstances of his first meeting with undercover agent Mark Aysta on August 11, 2009. Plowman said the meeting was set up by an old friend, Josh Rogers, who he had met several years earlier at a gym on the city's southside. Plowman described Rogers as the owner of the gym. He said Rogers told him Mark was a "high roller" who owned adult clubs and was interested in breaking into the Indianapolis market. Voyles asked Plowman to explain his brevado during the first meeting given that their conversation had been recorded and played to jurors. "I was just talking smack," Plowman explained. He said he was trying to feel out Mark and determine whether he was on the up and up. Voyles had Plowman to recount the numerous times he had stated in the recorded conversations with the undercover agent that everything has to be done legally or words to that effect. He had him recount how he said he did part-time work and received 1099s to report the income he earned to the IRS. He had him explain that he had indeed solicited a consulting fee from the undercover agent, but that it was intended to be used for legitimate consulting work. He explained that he would also need money to "throw around" on wining and dining people like Councilor Cockrum or Brad Klopfenstein.
Plowman explained how he spent at least 50 hours of work lining up a realtor and a zoning lawyer, scouting out potential sites for a club and other leg work and time spent working with Mark on the project before he ever took the $5,000 cash from him at the hotel room at the Conrad Hilton. He acknowledged getting Klopfenstein involved with the project, and he acknowledged discussing the issue with Councilor Cockrum and discussing a luncheon meeting with him. He insisted, however, that when he took the $5,000 cash from the undercover agent, he believed that was for work he had already begun performing for him, not for future services. He admitted that he first brought up the payment issue, but that he hadn't asked for the entire $5,000 payment he had agreed earlier with the agent would be his fee for his consulting work--only $1,000 or $2,000. The agent, he said, insisted on paying it all in advance. He said it was three days before Christmas, he hadn't been paid anything other than the $200 the agent previously gave him for his work and he, frankly, needed money to go Christmas shopping.
When four FBI agents rushed into the hotel room after he took the cash, he told jurors he thought Mark had done something wrong, not realizing initially that they were FBI agents. He said they told him to get down, they handcuffed him and then removed his service revolver strapped to his ankle. At that time, he described the four agents leaving and two other agents, Brad Bookwalter and Booz Moise, coming into the room, releasing him from handcuffs and telling him he was free to leave. Plowman said that he voluntarily agreed to talk to them, that they never asked to record the conversation and that he understood anything he said that turned out not to be true would be a criminal offense because they were FBI agents. He admitted to the agents he had been working for PT's for $1,000 a month. He insisted the agents attempted to get him to provide them information of corrupt acts committed by Mayor Ballard, Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and other police officers. He said he told them he knew of no corrupt acts being committed by any officials or other police officers. When asked by Voyles if he had ever solicited a bribe, he responded, "Absolutely not."
On cross-examination, Richard Pilger, used the recorded conversation with Agent Brian Ace to demonstrate that Plowman was a veteran law enforcement officer of a high rank who could make calls to the FBI and get them returned in short order. He presented to Plowman his grade transcripts from the FBI's law enforcement academy at the University of Virginia. That led to the first of many combative exchanges between Pilger and Plowman. Plowman indicated that he did not know he earned grades or college credits for his work and seemed surprised to see the grade transcripts showing that he had earned very high marks at the academy. Pilger had Plowman confirm his role as a senior officer in the respective police departments he had worked and his responsibility as a commander and handling disciplinary matters.
Pilger then jumped on evidence Plowman's attorney had introduced in the form of his tax returns that indicated that he had purchased high-powered weapons and claimed them as tax deductions. Pilger got Plowman to admit that the Colt AR-15 assault rifle he had purchased at considerable cost was very similar to that used by soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, except that it was not an automatic weapon. Pilger asked him about depreciating the cost of those guns as indicated by his tax returns, but Plowman said he didn't know what depreciation meant. He said he gave the information to his accountant, who prepared the forms and he simply signed them. He seemed to suggest at one point that his wife was responsible for all of their personal finances, not him. When Pilger asked him if he was blaming her, he responded, "No, wouldn't want to blame her." He also asked him about a Walther PPK gun similar to what James Bond used in his movies his tax returns indicated that he had acquired. Plowman insisted it wasn't exactly like the James Bond hangun. He got him to admit that he liked going to strip clubs. The two argued over whether Plowman called ahead when he planned to visit PT's, eventually conceding that he may have done so frequently after initially denying that was a practice he had followed over the years.
During questioning about the money he earned from his part-time work, Plowman insisted that he did not have financial troubles and that he made plenty of money from his regular job as a police officer. He described the part-time income he earned from working at PT's and other jobs as " just gravy." Pilger jumped on the conversation Plowman had early on with Agent Aysta during which he described his personal financial situation and how he needed extra income from his part-time work because he didn't earn enough as a law enforcement officer.
Time after time Pilger would use Plowman's own words recorded during his conversations with the undercover agent or even during his testimony today to point up inconsistencies. Pilger said there are many times where you say everything has to be legal, but there are times when you suggest things aren't always on the up and up. He mentioned how Plowman said he wanted him to run a clean business, but that he knew that some club owners didn't report all their income--they would essentially live off the take they received at the door and only report their alcohol sales. He pointed out that Plowman mentioned Aysta could issue him a 1099 for his work, but it was not necessary if he didn't want to do it. He brought up Plowman's use of the term "shuck and jive" to describe what he would tell others that might not always comport with his true intentions.
Pilger got Plowman to concede that he was the first to bring up repeatedly the issue of the importance of zoning in opening up a new strip club, that he controlled the zoning boards and that he wanted a fee for his services doing "work behind the scenes with the guys zoning board." As for the 50 hours of work Plowman claimed he had performed for Aysta, he used his words, "I'm not telling you shit," when it came to other matters. He used Plowman's words about taking care of the cops by comping them in the club to stay out of trouble and how he could "intertwine his police and political experience" to exert influence on his behalf. When Pilger asked Plowman to be more specific about the work he claimed to have done, such as scouting properties, Plowman said he could not recall specifically which properties he had scouted.
Pilger challenged Plowman on the way he had taken Agent Aysta, a man he claimed to still not know well enough to determine whether he was on the up and up, unannounced on an undercover operation he was leading downtown to combat unruly panhandlers. He asked him about driving Aysta into the underground secured parking garage of the City-County Building and then leading him to the undercover operation downtown. He acknowledged he hadn't asked Aysta to sign a liability waiver or otherwise forewarned him about what he was going to do before he actually took him into the middle of the undercover operation. Pilger got Plowman to admit that he was barred from doing part-time work at PT's and the work he was performing as a consultant for Aysta under IMPD's general order governing part-time work. He got Plowman to admit he hadn't disclosed all of his part-time work as he was required to do--either to IMPD or to the City-County Council.
Remarkably, Plowman claimed he didn't know he had to disclose his part-time work on his statement of economic interest he was required to complete as a councilor, even though he knew the council had adopted a new ethics ordinance and that he had voted for it. Plowman said someone stuck the disclosure statement in his mailbox to sign and that he had not checked it closely before signing it--as if someone else had completed it for him. Pilger noted that he had corrected a typo on the form and signed the statement under penalties of perjury. Plowman said he often signs forms prepared by someone else, including his tax returns, without looking over the work closely. Plowman claimed he didn't understand the legal distinction between income he earned as wages and that as a self-employed person. Pilger asked him if he treated paperwork at IMPD in that fashion where people's lives were at stake. He responded that his last work was primarily signing paperwork regarding the purchase of supplies so it wasn't that important. At one point, Plowman tried to defend his part-time work, suggesting that he could do it as a sole proprietorship and it was okay. Pressed further by Pilger, Plowman conceded his work was not allowed--either for PT's or for Aysta. At one point, Plowman apologized for the mistake he had made in completing two ethics disclosure statements as a councilor indicating that he performed no part-time work.
Pilger hammered Plowman for performing work on the smoking ban for PT's and voting on the very same matters as a councilor. He asked him about taking a week off work to fight the smoking ban ordinance. Plowman said he actually didn't take a week off because the entire time off was not approved--that was how much time he had wanted to take off to work on it when he explained in an e-mail to Mark Ocello, president of PT's holding company, that he was working hard for him to earn the money he had asked the company to pay to him for his work. Plowman's voice grew more hoarse as Pilger wore him down by taking him to task on the words he had spoken and the actions he had taken. You couldn't help but wonder whether his attorney was beginning to have second thoughts about putting his client on the witness stand to testify in his own defense. The jury was paying close attention and taking many notes. It couldn't be described as a good day for the defendant by any stretch of the imagination.
Voyles began the day by playing to jurors a recorded phone conversation between FBI agent Brian Ace and Plowman made in December, 2009 near the time of his final meeting with the undercover agent. Plowman had called him on behalf of employees working at a west side strip club who said someone had been in the club representing himself as an FBI agent conducting an investigation and that he wanted to confirm the agent was one of their employees. Ace was returning a call to Plowman, who had already received confirmation that the person in question indeed was an FBI agent from another agent, Wendy Osborne. During the conversation, the two discussed the fact that the FBI was going to interview Plowman about Kerry Forrestal, a person with whom Plowman had worked in the Sheriff's Department, who had been nominated to the U.S. Marshal's position for the Southern District of Indiana. The recording suggested Plowman had a good, professional working relationship with the local FBI office at the time.
Voyles had Plowman lay out his biographical narrative, a native of Greensburg who served in the Army for three years following his graduation from high school in 1981. He returned home where he got a job working for the Decatur Co. Sheriff's Department and worked part-time as the New Point town marshal. After attending ISU for two years without earning a degree, he got a job working for the Hamilton Co. Sheriff's Department. A few months later he got a call and accepted employment with the Marion Co. Sheriff's Department where he really wanted to work. He explained the various jobs he had at the county jail and road patrol as he grew in rank and power within the Department. Plowman joined IMPD in January, 2007 upon the merger of the Sheriff's Department law enforcement division with the Indianapolis Police Department to form the newly formed agency at the rank of lieutenant. In a short period of time, he would rise to the appointed rank of a major working in investigations where he had served in a vice commander's position over vice operations.
At the same time he was building his career in law enforcement, Plowman explained to jurors his involvement in the Marion Co. Republican Party, beginning as a precinct committeeperson and later becoming a ward chairman. After he met and married his wife, Christina Nye, he settled down in Franklin Township where her family resided. He volunteered to serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals, an appointed position he held for about three years. In 2003, he successfully ran for the City-County Council in District 25 and was re-elected in 2007. In 2008, he became the Majority Leader and served as the Chairman of the Metropolitan Development Committee.
During his time as a law enforcement officer in Marion County, Plowman explained to jurors how he had always worked part-time jobs. He provided security work and services for banks, jewelry stores, gas stations, the Indiana Pacers, Duke Realty and the homes of business executives, among others. When the Little Bit of Texas country-western club opened in a beat he worked on the city's westside, he developed a close relationship with Michael Webb, an assistant manager for the club. Plowman freely acknowledged that he frequently visited the club while off duty and received comped food, drinks and admissions, a practice he described as common for police officers. Later, when Webb went to work for PT's Showclub after he had worked another job out of town, he renewed his friendship and frequently visited him at his new place of employment and received comped benefits just as he had at Little Bit of Texas.
Plowman described how that personal relationship grew into a business relationship with PT's that paid him $1,000 a month, including a $2,500 bonus to cover work he had performed for the club since January, 2005. Plowman described his work for the club as relating to both security and political work. He also related his appointment of persons to the Board of Zoning Appeals as a councilor. He denied that he knew Larry Walker and only recommended his appointment based upon the recommendation of Cindy Mowery. He said he would nominate candidates for board positions automatically in his role as Chairman of the Metropolitan Development Committee regardless of whether it was his own personal choice. He did, however, acknowledge that he made the decision to appoint his long-time friend and campaign manager, Brad Klopfenstein, to the BZA.
Voyles had Plowman explain the reason he used the 7915 S. Emerson address and the alias "Steve Rogers." Plowman said it was nothing more than a post office box address at a local UPS store, but that police officers commonly protect their true address because of the nature of their work and fear of retaliation from people they encounter in their official business. He said the "Steve Rogers" was his undercover name he used in limited undercover vice work he performed as an IMPD officer. He said he had an Indiana driver's license issued using his alias as well. Plowman also detailed the security work and legislative tracking work he did while working for PT's.
Voyles then asked Plowman to describe the circumstances of his first meeting with undercover agent Mark Aysta on August 11, 2009. Plowman said the meeting was set up by an old friend, Josh Rogers, who he had met several years earlier at a gym on the city's southside. Plowman described Rogers as the owner of the gym. He said Rogers told him Mark was a "high roller" who owned adult clubs and was interested in breaking into the Indianapolis market. Voyles asked Plowman to explain his brevado during the first meeting given that their conversation had been recorded and played to jurors. "I was just talking smack," Plowman explained. He said he was trying to feel out Mark and determine whether he was on the up and up. Voyles had Plowman to recount the numerous times he had stated in the recorded conversations with the undercover agent that everything has to be done legally or words to that effect. He had him recount how he said he did part-time work and received 1099s to report the income he earned to the IRS. He had him explain that he had indeed solicited a consulting fee from the undercover agent, but that it was intended to be used for legitimate consulting work. He explained that he would also need money to "throw around" on wining and dining people like Councilor Cockrum or Brad Klopfenstein.
Plowman explained how he spent at least 50 hours of work lining up a realtor and a zoning lawyer, scouting out potential sites for a club and other leg work and time spent working with Mark on the project before he ever took the $5,000 cash from him at the hotel room at the Conrad Hilton. He acknowledged getting Klopfenstein involved with the project, and he acknowledged discussing the issue with Councilor Cockrum and discussing a luncheon meeting with him. He insisted, however, that when he took the $5,000 cash from the undercover agent, he believed that was for work he had already begun performing for him, not for future services. He admitted that he first brought up the payment issue, but that he hadn't asked for the entire $5,000 payment he had agreed earlier with the agent would be his fee for his consulting work--only $1,000 or $2,000. The agent, he said, insisted on paying it all in advance. He said it was three days before Christmas, he hadn't been paid anything other than the $200 the agent previously gave him for his work and he, frankly, needed money to go Christmas shopping.
When four FBI agents rushed into the hotel room after he took the cash, he told jurors he thought Mark had done something wrong, not realizing initially that they were FBI agents. He said they told him to get down, they handcuffed him and then removed his service revolver strapped to his ankle. At that time, he described the four agents leaving and two other agents, Brad Bookwalter and Booz Moise, coming into the room, releasing him from handcuffs and telling him he was free to leave. Plowman said that he voluntarily agreed to talk to them, that they never asked to record the conversation and that he understood anything he said that turned out not to be true would be a criminal offense because they were FBI agents. He admitted to the agents he had been working for PT's for $1,000 a month. He insisted the agents attempted to get him to provide them information of corrupt acts committed by Mayor Ballard, Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and other police officers. He said he told them he knew of no corrupt acts being committed by any officials or other police officers. When asked by Voyles if he had ever solicited a bribe, he responded, "Absolutely not."
On cross-examination, Richard Pilger, used the recorded conversation with Agent Brian Ace to demonstrate that Plowman was a veteran law enforcement officer of a high rank who could make calls to the FBI and get them returned in short order. He presented to Plowman his grade transcripts from the FBI's law enforcement academy at the University of Virginia. That led to the first of many combative exchanges between Pilger and Plowman. Plowman indicated that he did not know he earned grades or college credits for his work and seemed surprised to see the grade transcripts showing that he had earned very high marks at the academy. Pilger had Plowman confirm his role as a senior officer in the respective police departments he had worked and his responsibility as a commander and handling disciplinary matters.
Pilger then jumped on evidence Plowman's attorney had introduced in the form of his tax returns that indicated that he had purchased high-powered weapons and claimed them as tax deductions. Pilger got Plowman to admit that the Colt AR-15 assault rifle he had purchased at considerable cost was very similar to that used by soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, except that it was not an automatic weapon. Pilger asked him about depreciating the cost of those guns as indicated by his tax returns, but Plowman said he didn't know what depreciation meant. He said he gave the information to his accountant, who prepared the forms and he simply signed them. He seemed to suggest at one point that his wife was responsible for all of their personal finances, not him. When Pilger asked him if he was blaming her, he responded, "No, wouldn't want to blame her." He also asked him about a Walther PPK gun similar to what James Bond used in his movies his tax returns indicated that he had acquired. Plowman insisted it wasn't exactly like the James Bond hangun. He got him to admit that he liked going to strip clubs. The two argued over whether Plowman called ahead when he planned to visit PT's, eventually conceding that he may have done so frequently after initially denying that was a practice he had followed over the years.
During questioning about the money he earned from his part-time work, Plowman insisted that he did not have financial troubles and that he made plenty of money from his regular job as a police officer. He described the part-time income he earned from working at PT's and other jobs as " just gravy." Pilger jumped on the conversation Plowman had early on with Agent Aysta during which he described his personal financial situation and how he needed extra income from his part-time work because he didn't earn enough as a law enforcement officer.
Time after time Pilger would use Plowman's own words recorded during his conversations with the undercover agent or even during his testimony today to point up inconsistencies. Pilger said there are many times where you say everything has to be legal, but there are times when you suggest things aren't always on the up and up. He mentioned how Plowman said he wanted him to run a clean business, but that he knew that some club owners didn't report all their income--they would essentially live off the take they received at the door and only report their alcohol sales. He pointed out that Plowman mentioned Aysta could issue him a 1099 for his work, but it was not necessary if he didn't want to do it. He brought up Plowman's use of the term "shuck and jive" to describe what he would tell others that might not always comport with his true intentions.
Pilger got Plowman to concede that he was the first to bring up repeatedly the issue of the importance of zoning in opening up a new strip club, that he controlled the zoning boards and that he wanted a fee for his services doing "work behind the scenes with the guys zoning board." As for the 50 hours of work Plowman claimed he had performed for Aysta, he used his words, "I'm not telling you shit," when it came to other matters. He used Plowman's words about taking care of the cops by comping them in the club to stay out of trouble and how he could "intertwine his police and political experience" to exert influence on his behalf. When Pilger asked Plowman to be more specific about the work he claimed to have done, such as scouting properties, Plowman said he could not recall specifically which properties he had scouted.
Pilger challenged Plowman on the way he had taken Agent Aysta, a man he claimed to still not know well enough to determine whether he was on the up and up, unannounced on an undercover operation he was leading downtown to combat unruly panhandlers. He asked him about driving Aysta into the underground secured parking garage of the City-County Building and then leading him to the undercover operation downtown. He acknowledged he hadn't asked Aysta to sign a liability waiver or otherwise forewarned him about what he was going to do before he actually took him into the middle of the undercover operation. Pilger got Plowman to admit that he was barred from doing part-time work at PT's and the work he was performing as a consultant for Aysta under IMPD's general order governing part-time work. He got Plowman to admit he hadn't disclosed all of his part-time work as he was required to do--either to IMPD or to the City-County Council.
Remarkably, Plowman claimed he didn't know he had to disclose his part-time work on his statement of economic interest he was required to complete as a councilor, even though he knew the council had adopted a new ethics ordinance and that he had voted for it. Plowman said someone stuck the disclosure statement in his mailbox to sign and that he had not checked it closely before signing it--as if someone else had completed it for him. Pilger noted that he had corrected a typo on the form and signed the statement under penalties of perjury. Plowman said he often signs forms prepared by someone else, including his tax returns, without looking over the work closely. Plowman claimed he didn't understand the legal distinction between income he earned as wages and that as a self-employed person. Pilger asked him if he treated paperwork at IMPD in that fashion where people's lives were at stake. He responded that his last work was primarily signing paperwork regarding the purchase of supplies so it wasn't that important. At one point, Plowman tried to defend his part-time work, suggesting that he could do it as a sole proprietorship and it was okay. Pressed further by Pilger, Plowman conceded his work was not allowed--either for PT's or for Aysta. At one point, Plowman apologized for the mistake he had made in completing two ethics disclosure statements as a councilor indicating that he performed no part-time work.
Pilger hammered Plowman for performing work on the smoking ban for PT's and voting on the very same matters as a councilor. He asked him about taking a week off work to fight the smoking ban ordinance. Plowman said he actually didn't take a week off because the entire time off was not approved--that was how much time he had wanted to take off to work on it when he explained in an e-mail to Mark Ocello, president of PT's holding company, that he was working hard for him to earn the money he had asked the company to pay to him for his work. Plowman's voice grew more hoarse as Pilger wore him down by taking him to task on the words he had spoken and the actions he had taken. You couldn't help but wonder whether his attorney was beginning to have second thoughts about putting his client on the witness stand to testify in his own defense. The jury was paying close attention and taking many notes. It couldn't be described as a good day for the defendant by any stretch of the imagination.
GOP Captures Weiner's New York Congressional Seat
The Drudge Report dubs it "Revenge of the Jews." Political newcomer Bob Turner (R) has defeated a veteran New York Assemblyman, David Heprin, in a special congressional election to fill the vacancy of former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner for New York's 9th District, a heavily Democratic district that includes Queens and portions of Brooklyn. Turner carried the district, which includes a large concentration of Orthodox Jews, by six percentage points by linking his opponent to President Barack Obama and his failed economic policies. Last-minute pitches by former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Andrew Cuomo weren't enough to save David Heprin's campaign against Turner. The Washington Post suggests Obama's policies towards Israel hurt Heprin among the district's Jewish voters, who typically favor Democratic candidates by large numbers.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Plowman Trial Nearing End; Plowman Expected To Take The Stand In His Own Defense
The government concluded presenting its evidence this morning in the public corruption trial of former IMPD officer and City-County Councilor Lincoln Plowman. Defense attorney Jim Voyles called just five defense witnesses this afternoon and announced his intention to call his client to the stand tomorrow morning before the case is ready for closing arguments and presented to the jury for deliberations.
The government called FBI Special Agent Bradley Bookwalter to the stand to testify about an interview he and Agent Booz Moise conducted with Plowman for one hour and twenty minutes on the night of December 22, 2009 in Room 817 at the Conrad Hilton following Plowman's brief detention by FBI agents after he had accepted $5,000 cash from an undercover FBI agent posing as an out-of-state strip club owner looking to open a strip club on Indianapolis' west side with the influence of Plowman. Bookwalter listened to the conversation Plowman had with Agent Aysta and two female undercover FBI agents after the four had dined together at the Capital Grille and retired to Aysta's room from an adjacent room using listening devices installed in the room by the FBI. Bookwalter said that several FBI agents entered the room where Plowman took the cash after Agent Aysta exited the room, identified themselves and handcuffed him as a safety precaution so that he could be disarmed. When Bookwalter entered the room, the agents released Plowman from handcuffs and advised him that he was not under arrest and free to leave at that time if he wished. Plowman voluntarily chose to stay and talk to Agents Bookwalter and Moise with the understanding any false statements he made to an FBI agent would constitute a crime.
Plowman told the FBI agents during what Bookwalter described as a "relaxed interview" that he was simply trying to help out Mark, who he believed to be a legitimate business owner as part of his part-time job as a consultant. He recounted to the agents his work in helping Aysta find an attorney and realtor to aid in the development of a new strip club. Plowman said he needed money from Aysta to wine and dine folks. When asked on whom he planned to spend the money, he at first answered that he didn't know. He later told them it would be used for meetings with people like Councilor Cockrum in whose district the proposed site for the strip club was located. Plowman acknowledged to the agents that he had been paid $1,000 a month as a consultant to PT's. On cross-examination by Plowman's attorney, Bookwalter also said Plowman mentioned that he had previously been paid $1,000 a month by another strip club, Dancer's Showclub.
Bookwalter explained to Plowman's defense attorney under questioning that the purpose of the interview with Plowman, which was not recorded, was to see if he was willing to cooperate further in an ongoing investigation. Once Plowman had accepted the cash payment from the undercover agent, the FBI had concluded that phase of its investigation and was prepared to move forward with other potential targets based on the information they had gathered during the undercover sting. Bookwalter said Plowman claimed he had no knowledge of any other people engaged in corruption. Voyles pressed the agent, claiming that the two agents had pressured Plowman to give up information about Mayor Ballard, Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and other politicians and businessmen. Agent Bookwalter denied mentioning either Ballard's or Brizzi's names to Plowman. He did, however, acknowledge they mentioned BZA board member Brad Klopfenstein and Councilor Bob Cockrum during the conversation.
The government called Steve Neff, an attorney for the Indianapolis Corporation Counsel's Office who is assigned to handle legal matters for the Board of Zoning Appeals. Neff walked jurors through the process an applicant must go through in order to handle a zoning variance. He confirmed a practice of allowing petitioners to transfer their case to a zoning board different from the one it had been initially assigned if the petitioner makes a reasonable request to the Board and the Board, in its sole discretion, decides to grant the transfer. Neff said this occurred rather frequently--at least once or twice a month. This confirmed the government's contention that Plowman could possibly have the petitioner get the case transferred to a board he found more favorable by specifying a new date for hearing a matter on which he knew the board of choice would be meeting.
Neff also explained that it is part of his job to train all new members appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. In particular, he said that training included an admonition to board members not to speak to members of the public about matters that come before their respective boards. He cited a specific state statute, I.C. 36-7-4-920(g), that makes ex parte communications with zoning board members illegal. Neff said the statute applied with equal force to city councilors as it did other members of the general public. Neff also explained that it was not at all uncommon for board members to ignore a staff recommendation regarding a specific zoning variance.
To further prove that Plowman's work for PT's strip club and providing consulting work to the undercover agent interested in opening a new strip club was prohibited, the government called Major Joe Finch, a 25-year veteran of IMPD assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau. Finch walked the jurors through a general order that was in effect between January 1, 2007 and May, 2009. Finch explained the process by which police officers were required to submit off-duty work request forms for approval by superiors before they could perform any such work. The general order specifically prohibits police officers from working at strip clubs or inside bars. Finch noted that the policy had changed in May, 2009, at which point all police officers of an appointed rank, which included Plowman, were specifically prohibited from performing any off-duty work. The prohibition, however, excluded a police officer's part-time work as an elected official. Major Finch presented the work approval forms Plowman had provided since becoming a part of IMPD. Not surprisingly, Plowman had not requested permission to work at PT's. The only work permit forms Plowman had completed pertained to security work he had requested permission to perform for O'Ryan Security Services and a Harris Bank branch on 86th Street.
Major Finch said that officers who violated the general order regarding part-time work were typically subject to discipline, including at least a one-day suspension from work and a six-month prohibition on performing part-time work, even if approved. On cross-examination, Voyles tried to make it appear that Plowman could have been confused during the transition from working at the Sheriff's Department and IMPD following the merger of the two law enforcement agencies, which took effect on January 1, 2007. Finch said every officer was charged with reading and understanding all general orders. He said officers were provided with three-ring binders containing the general orders and also had access to an electronic version via an Intranet site for police officers' use.
The government called Councilor Bob Cockrum to the witness stand this morning, who confirmed that Plowman had discussed with him in a hallway during a city council meeting a developer that was interested in developing a strip club located within his district. Cockrum said he was familiar with the location Plowman identified, but he told him that he would probably have a difficult time supporting the proposed strip club. Cockrum explained that his Decatur Township district is very conservative and has a lot of Quakers residing in it, although the proposed site was located in one of the two precincts he represented in Wayne Township that included the airport. Plowman asked him to agree to meet with the developer for lunch he recalled, and he said he believed that he had indicated to him that he would be willing to do that because that had been his normal practice as a councilor to meet with developers interested in projects within his district. Cockrum said he never talked to the developer, Plowman or anyone else about the proposed project again.
After the government rested its case, Voyles called as Plowman's first defense witness, zoning attorney Cameron Clark, who now works as the general counsel for the Department of Natural Resources. Surpisingly, Clark testified that the first person to contact him regarding the proposed strip club development was former State Rep. John Keeler, who is now a partner at Baker & Daniels, and who felt him out about his potential interest in helping Plowman out on the case. After Clark told him that he would be willing to discuss the case with him, he said Plowman contacted him directly by telephone. Plowman gave him the information about the site's location, whereupon Clark did some basic research to determine how the area was zoned. Clark said that he knew realtor Ralph Balber was involved in the project. He asked for and received the covenants and confirmed his interpretation of them not to have any specific restrictions against an adult club; however, he said there was some general language regarding any business that represented a "nuisance" that caused him some concern.
Clark said that he was later contacted by the undercover FBI agent posing as the strip club developer. He confirmed that he told him the project was potentially doable, although he told him that he should expect opposition to it because adult establishments generally draw out remonstrators. Clark told the agent his hourly rate was $250 and that he would require a $20,000 retainer payment. Clark prepared a written engagement agreement and e-mailed it to the agent. He said that the next thing he heard on the project was a call he received from Plowman advising him that it had been a ruse conducted by the FBI. Clark said that he had in total no more than two or three conversations with Plowman and that he had no personal relationship with him beyond his knowledge and familiarity with him as a councilor.
In a rather odd move, Voyles then called to the stand Joel Fischer, a CPA who had prepared Plowman's tax returns. Voyles offered as evidence tax returns Fischer had prepared for Plowman for the period of 2007-09 to prove that Plowman had reported off-duty compensation for which he had been issued 1099 forms, including the work Plowman had performed for PT's. The returns showed Plowman had reported $12,000 in income earned from working for PT's in each of the three tax years, but the government on cross-examination showed that Plowman had claimed a large number of business expenses related to the outside income he earned. The government's lead prosecutor, Richard Pilger, in particular honed in on expenses Plowman claimed for costly Colt assault rifles and ammunition magazines he had purchased in 2008. Plowman actually claimed a loss of $4,623.00 after claiming all of his business expenses, including $11,000 in depreciation for equipment, including the purchase of the assault rifles. Voyles became perturbed that Pilger had focused on the purchase of the guns, suggesting they were needed for the security work he performed. Voyles and Pilger also sparred over the $200 the undercover agent had paid to Plowman early on in the investigation, which he claimed on his tax return. He did not claim the $5,000 cash payment he received from the agent, however, because the FBI took the money back when they detained him at the Conrad Hilton.
The defense called Brad Klopfenstein to the stand to testify about the work he did on the strip club project. Klopfenstein matter-of-factly acknowledged his work on the project, including getting the location sites from Ralph Balber, introducing Plowman to Balber and setting up a meeting between the two, as well as inquiring to DMD staff about two of the sites under consideration, including the Chateau Thomas Winery site downtown and the airport site. Klopfenstein said he forwarded the information he received from the DMD staff on to Plowman. When questioned by the government's prosecutor, Joe Vaughn, about the rule against ex parte communications, Klopfenstein testified that he and other BZA members regularly spoke to council members about such matters and there was nothing unusual about it. He said that if this particular matter had come before the BZA panel on which he served, he would have recused himself anyway because it involved a liquor license and that he had recused himself in such cases because of his work for the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association.
Klopfenstein described himself as "great friends" with Plowman. He testified that he had served as Plowman's campaign manager, although he conceded the position required little work because Plowman represented such a heavily Republican district. Klopfenstein said his employment with the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association ended a short time after Plowman was snared by the FBI sting. He said he now works as a bar manager for a Claude & Annie's franchise at the airport. He said that Plowman had made it possible for people like him within the Libertarian Party, which Voyles referred to as the "Left Out Party", to participate in the political process. He said his views on zoning issues reflected his Libertarian views. He felt property owners should be allowed to do with their property what they wanted without the government bossing them around about what they could or could not do.
The only other witness called by the defense today was zoning attorney David Retherford, whose father was appointed by Plowman to the BZA. He acknowledged that Plowman had telephoned him about doing work on the strip club project, but that he had immediately told him that he would not handle the case because of his religious views and general opposition to adult nightclubs. He advised Plowman to look for another zoning attorney.
The government called FBI Special Agent Bradley Bookwalter to the stand to testify about an interview he and Agent Booz Moise conducted with Plowman for one hour and twenty minutes on the night of December 22, 2009 in Room 817 at the Conrad Hilton following Plowman's brief detention by FBI agents after he had accepted $5,000 cash from an undercover FBI agent posing as an out-of-state strip club owner looking to open a strip club on Indianapolis' west side with the influence of Plowman. Bookwalter listened to the conversation Plowman had with Agent Aysta and two female undercover FBI agents after the four had dined together at the Capital Grille and retired to Aysta's room from an adjacent room using listening devices installed in the room by the FBI. Bookwalter said that several FBI agents entered the room where Plowman took the cash after Agent Aysta exited the room, identified themselves and handcuffed him as a safety precaution so that he could be disarmed. When Bookwalter entered the room, the agents released Plowman from handcuffs and advised him that he was not under arrest and free to leave at that time if he wished. Plowman voluntarily chose to stay and talk to Agents Bookwalter and Moise with the understanding any false statements he made to an FBI agent would constitute a crime.
Plowman told the FBI agents during what Bookwalter described as a "relaxed interview" that he was simply trying to help out Mark, who he believed to be a legitimate business owner as part of his part-time job as a consultant. He recounted to the agents his work in helping Aysta find an attorney and realtor to aid in the development of a new strip club. Plowman said he needed money from Aysta to wine and dine folks. When asked on whom he planned to spend the money, he at first answered that he didn't know. He later told them it would be used for meetings with people like Councilor Cockrum in whose district the proposed site for the strip club was located. Plowman acknowledged to the agents that he had been paid $1,000 a month as a consultant to PT's. On cross-examination by Plowman's attorney, Bookwalter also said Plowman mentioned that he had previously been paid $1,000 a month by another strip club, Dancer's Showclub.
Bookwalter explained to Plowman's defense attorney under questioning that the purpose of the interview with Plowman, which was not recorded, was to see if he was willing to cooperate further in an ongoing investigation. Once Plowman had accepted the cash payment from the undercover agent, the FBI had concluded that phase of its investigation and was prepared to move forward with other potential targets based on the information they had gathered during the undercover sting. Bookwalter said Plowman claimed he had no knowledge of any other people engaged in corruption. Voyles pressed the agent, claiming that the two agents had pressured Plowman to give up information about Mayor Ballard, Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and other politicians and businessmen. Agent Bookwalter denied mentioning either Ballard's or Brizzi's names to Plowman. He did, however, acknowledge they mentioned BZA board member Brad Klopfenstein and Councilor Bob Cockrum during the conversation.
The government called Steve Neff, an attorney for the Indianapolis Corporation Counsel's Office who is assigned to handle legal matters for the Board of Zoning Appeals. Neff walked jurors through the process an applicant must go through in order to handle a zoning variance. He confirmed a practice of allowing petitioners to transfer their case to a zoning board different from the one it had been initially assigned if the petitioner makes a reasonable request to the Board and the Board, in its sole discretion, decides to grant the transfer. Neff said this occurred rather frequently--at least once or twice a month. This confirmed the government's contention that Plowman could possibly have the petitioner get the case transferred to a board he found more favorable by specifying a new date for hearing a matter on which he knew the board of choice would be meeting.
Neff also explained that it is part of his job to train all new members appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. In particular, he said that training included an admonition to board members not to speak to members of the public about matters that come before their respective boards. He cited a specific state statute, I.C. 36-7-4-920(g), that makes ex parte communications with zoning board members illegal. Neff said the statute applied with equal force to city councilors as it did other members of the general public. Neff also explained that it was not at all uncommon for board members to ignore a staff recommendation regarding a specific zoning variance.
To further prove that Plowman's work for PT's strip club and providing consulting work to the undercover agent interested in opening a new strip club was prohibited, the government called Major Joe Finch, a 25-year veteran of IMPD assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau. Finch walked the jurors through a general order that was in effect between January 1, 2007 and May, 2009. Finch explained the process by which police officers were required to submit off-duty work request forms for approval by superiors before they could perform any such work. The general order specifically prohibits police officers from working at strip clubs or inside bars. Finch noted that the policy had changed in May, 2009, at which point all police officers of an appointed rank, which included Plowman, were specifically prohibited from performing any off-duty work. The prohibition, however, excluded a police officer's part-time work as an elected official. Major Finch presented the work approval forms Plowman had provided since becoming a part of IMPD. Not surprisingly, Plowman had not requested permission to work at PT's. The only work permit forms Plowman had completed pertained to security work he had requested permission to perform for O'Ryan Security Services and a Harris Bank branch on 86th Street.
Major Finch said that officers who violated the general order regarding part-time work were typically subject to discipline, including at least a one-day suspension from work and a six-month prohibition on performing part-time work, even if approved. On cross-examination, Voyles tried to make it appear that Plowman could have been confused during the transition from working at the Sheriff's Department and IMPD following the merger of the two law enforcement agencies, which took effect on January 1, 2007. Finch said every officer was charged with reading and understanding all general orders. He said officers were provided with three-ring binders containing the general orders and also had access to an electronic version via an Intranet site for police officers' use.
The government called Councilor Bob Cockrum to the witness stand this morning, who confirmed that Plowman had discussed with him in a hallway during a city council meeting a developer that was interested in developing a strip club located within his district. Cockrum said he was familiar with the location Plowman identified, but he told him that he would probably have a difficult time supporting the proposed strip club. Cockrum explained that his Decatur Township district is very conservative and has a lot of Quakers residing in it, although the proposed site was located in one of the two precincts he represented in Wayne Township that included the airport. Plowman asked him to agree to meet with the developer for lunch he recalled, and he said he believed that he had indicated to him that he would be willing to do that because that had been his normal practice as a councilor to meet with developers interested in projects within his district. Cockrum said he never talked to the developer, Plowman or anyone else about the proposed project again.
After the government rested its case, Voyles called as Plowman's first defense witness, zoning attorney Cameron Clark, who now works as the general counsel for the Department of Natural Resources. Surpisingly, Clark testified that the first person to contact him regarding the proposed strip club development was former State Rep. John Keeler, who is now a partner at Baker & Daniels, and who felt him out about his potential interest in helping Plowman out on the case. After Clark told him that he would be willing to discuss the case with him, he said Plowman contacted him directly by telephone. Plowman gave him the information about the site's location, whereupon Clark did some basic research to determine how the area was zoned. Clark said that he knew realtor Ralph Balber was involved in the project. He asked for and received the covenants and confirmed his interpretation of them not to have any specific restrictions against an adult club; however, he said there was some general language regarding any business that represented a "nuisance" that caused him some concern.
Clark said that he was later contacted by the undercover FBI agent posing as the strip club developer. He confirmed that he told him the project was potentially doable, although he told him that he should expect opposition to it because adult establishments generally draw out remonstrators. Clark told the agent his hourly rate was $250 and that he would require a $20,000 retainer payment. Clark prepared a written engagement agreement and e-mailed it to the agent. He said that the next thing he heard on the project was a call he received from Plowman advising him that it had been a ruse conducted by the FBI. Clark said that he had in total no more than two or three conversations with Plowman and that he had no personal relationship with him beyond his knowledge and familiarity with him as a councilor.
In a rather odd move, Voyles then called to the stand Joel Fischer, a CPA who had prepared Plowman's tax returns. Voyles offered as evidence tax returns Fischer had prepared for Plowman for the period of 2007-09 to prove that Plowman had reported off-duty compensation for which he had been issued 1099 forms, including the work Plowman had performed for PT's. The returns showed Plowman had reported $12,000 in income earned from working for PT's in each of the three tax years, but the government on cross-examination showed that Plowman had claimed a large number of business expenses related to the outside income he earned. The government's lead prosecutor, Richard Pilger, in particular honed in on expenses Plowman claimed for costly Colt assault rifles and ammunition magazines he had purchased in 2008. Plowman actually claimed a loss of $4,623.00 after claiming all of his business expenses, including $11,000 in depreciation for equipment, including the purchase of the assault rifles. Voyles became perturbed that Pilger had focused on the purchase of the guns, suggesting they were needed for the security work he performed. Voyles and Pilger also sparred over the $200 the undercover agent had paid to Plowman early on in the investigation, which he claimed on his tax return. He did not claim the $5,000 cash payment he received from the agent, however, because the FBI took the money back when they detained him at the Conrad Hilton.
The defense called Brad Klopfenstein to the stand to testify about the work he did on the strip club project. Klopfenstein matter-of-factly acknowledged his work on the project, including getting the location sites from Ralph Balber, introducing Plowman to Balber and setting up a meeting between the two, as well as inquiring to DMD staff about two of the sites under consideration, including the Chateau Thomas Winery site downtown and the airport site. Klopfenstein said he forwarded the information he received from the DMD staff on to Plowman. When questioned by the government's prosecutor, Joe Vaughn, about the rule against ex parte communications, Klopfenstein testified that he and other BZA members regularly spoke to council members about such matters and there was nothing unusual about it. He said that if this particular matter had come before the BZA panel on which he served, he would have recused himself anyway because it involved a liquor license and that he had recused himself in such cases because of his work for the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association.
Klopfenstein described himself as "great friends" with Plowman. He testified that he had served as Plowman's campaign manager, although he conceded the position required little work because Plowman represented such a heavily Republican district. Klopfenstein said his employment with the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association ended a short time after Plowman was snared by the FBI sting. He said he now works as a bar manager for a Claude & Annie's franchise at the airport. He said that Plowman had made it possible for people like him within the Libertarian Party, which Voyles referred to as the "Left Out Party", to participate in the political process. He said his views on zoning issues reflected his Libertarian views. He felt property owners should be allowed to do with their property what they wanted without the government bossing them around about what they could or could not do.
The only other witness called by the defense today was zoning attorney David Retherford, whose father was appointed by Plowman to the BZA. He acknowledged that Plowman had telephoned him about doing work on the strip club project, but that he had immediately told him that he would not handle the case because of his religious views and general opposition to adult nightclubs. He advised Plowman to look for another zoning attorney.
Monday, September 12, 2011
GOP Political Committees Agree To Repay Fair Finance Trustee $60,000
Three Marion County GOP campaign committees have reached an agreement with the Fair Finance bankruptcy trustee to repay approximately $60,000 for the benefit of the bankrupt company's creditors, representing campaign contributions the committee received from Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham and companies he controlled. The amount includes $32,000 from Lawrence Mayor Paul Ricketts' campaign committee, $23,750 from the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee and $4,250 from the Marion Co. Republican Party. The trustee is allowing the campaign committees to repay the sums in four equal installments.
PT's Manager Bolsters Government's Case Plowman Sold Influence
A manager of PT's Showclub, a Lawrence adult club owned by VCG Holdings, told jurors in the public corruption trial of former IMPD Officer and City-County Councilor Lincoln Plowman that Plowman had been on the company's payroll from 2005 through December, 2009-- right up to the point that he was arrested in a downtown Indianapolis hotel room accepting $5,000 cash from an undercover FBI agent and accused of selling influence to help an out-of-state strip club owner get a zoning variance to open up a new strip club on Indianapolis' west side. Club manager Michael Webb told jurors the consulting work included political work. E-mails Webb turned over to the government under subpoena indicated that Plowman's political work included lobbying the Indianapolis City-County Council while a member of the council against a smoking ban ordinance opposed by the club.
Under direct examination by the government's lead prosecutor, Richard Pilger, Webb said he first came to know Plowman while he was working as a manager at Little Bit of Texas, a nightclub featuring live bands on Indianapolis' west side, while Plowman worked a beat as a sergeant for the Marion Co. Sheriff's Department that included the nightclub. Webb said Plowman frequently responded to police runs at the club and frequented the club during his off-duty hours. Webb said the club comped Plowman and other Indianapolis police officers who patronized the club with free admission, drinks and cigars. If Plowman brought friends along with him to the club, Webb indicated that their admission was comped as well.
When Webb later went to work at PT's in Lawrence, he said Plowman was a regular there as well and similarly received comped benefits from the adult club. Webb testified that all police officers and politicians who frequent the club are provided comped benefits. Webb said Plowman would often call in advance when he planned to visit the club so he could let the club's employees know he was coming to the club. Eventually, as Plowman's relationship with the club grew, he expected more than comped business and sought a consulting arrangement with the club according to Webb. The first payment the club made to Plowman came in 2005 for services beginning in January of that year. VCG Holdings, the parent company for the club, formalized an agreement with Plowman in May, 2005, paying him $1,000 a month. A payment of $2,500 was also paid to Plowman for work he performed from January to May, although Webb testified Plowman had initially sought a payment of $5,000 for that work. Although Plowman was initially paid on a monthly basis, in 2008 and 2009, PT's paid Plowman in two advance payments that allowed him to draw his entire annual payment by the end of February of each year. Webb said Plowman had requested the advance payment to assist him with expenses related to his home.
Incredibly, Webb claimed that Plowman initially solicited PT's help in landing the job as State House lobbyist for the Indiana Nighclub Association (INCA), a position then held by State House lobbyist Bill Powers, who also performed legal work for PT's. Webb said the company's president, Michael Ocello, told Plowman that he did not think it would be "kosher" for the organization to employ a police officer as its lobbyist because of "conflict" and the fact that his role would have to be publicly disclosed in a lobbyist registration statement. Plowman solicited the paid consulting work on a letterhead labeled "Lincoln Plowman & Associates."
Notwithstanding the characterization of Plowman's contract with PT's as a consulting contract, documents introduced by the government showed Plowman had lobbied his fellow councilors to vote against a proposed smoking ban ordinance when it was first heard at a council hearing in March, 2005 near the time the club began making payments to him. Webb produced e-mails as early as February, 2005 from Plowman discussing the proposed smoking ban ordinance. In one e-mail to the company's president, Michael Ocello, Plowman wrote, "I've pulled all the favors I can pull for VCG." A May, 2005 e-mail to Osello from Plowman indicated that he had taken the entire week off from his day time job as an IMPD officer to "work on [the smoking ban] issue." "Your money hard at work," Plowman said. Plowman told Ocello that his efforts had paid off and that one of the ordinance's sponsors, Greg Bowes, had assured him there would be an exemption from the smoking ban for bars and adult clubs where patrons had to be at least 21 years of age to enter. Other e-mails from Plowman to Ocello or Webb solicited contributions for his campaign committee or participation in political golf outings.
Some of the e-mails Plowman exchanged with PT's management covered the same period beginning in August, 2009 that undercover FBI agent Mark Aysta had initiated contact with Plowman to see if he would bite at the opportunity to sell influence. Several e-mails discussed state legislation pertaining to Sunday alcohol sales. Ocello told Plowman he wasn't interested in expending any political capital on that issue. In October, 2009, Plowman wrote urgently to Ocello to let him know the smoking ban issue was coming back to the Indianapolis City-County Council. "This is going to be a complete ban," he warned Ocello. Plowman solicited additional money from Ocello to fight the total ban. Webb confirmed that Ocello arranged for a $5,000 campaign contribution to the Greater Indianapolis Finance Committee to fight the ban.
Webb detailed work Plowman performed under the consulting contract during the four-year period, including surveillance camera and motion detector placement, closing time procedures, counterfeit ID detection, counterfeit currency detection, and employee and entertainer safety and security, which supported Plowman's lawyer's contention that it was a legitimate contract for consulting work. Webb said Plowman also performed criminal background checks for potential club employees, although he could not say whether Plowman accessed the law enforcement database furnished through his principal employer, IMPD, to perform the work. Plowman's lawyer, Jim Voyles, countered that the work Plowman did on the smoking ban ordinance would not even impact PT's club in Lawrence because it is one of the three excluded cities under UniGov. The government countered that PT's management feared that once Indianapolis adopted such an ordinance that it would become the model for legislation that would apply statewide. Webb conceded the consulting services Plowman provided weren't really critical to the club's operation and involved very little work over the four-year period.
Prior to offering Webb's testimony, Pilger told jurors that he had agreed to provide testimony and comply with a subpoena issued by the grand jury in the proceedings based on a written proffer made by the government that he would not be prosecuted for an offense related to his compelled testimony. Webb explained that PT's holding company, VCG Holdings, is a publicly-traded company based in Denver, Colorado. The company operates 18 adult clubs in 10 states. Not mentioned in today's testimony were recent news stories about Missouri's Lt. Governor, Peter Kinder, being a frequent patron of one of the company's strip clubs in Sauget, Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis. Kinder, a favorite of the religious right, has been highly criticized for his apparent hypocrisy. One of the club's former entertainers, Tammy Chapman, a former Penthouse model, complained that Kinder had stalked her.
Plowman's attorney not only had to fend off allegations made by the government that Plowman's employment by PT's was made for the purpose of selling influence, he also was faced with allegations Plowman violated police rules governing off-duty employment. The government called as a witness, Angela Grider, the HR Director for the Sheriff's Department, who testified that while Plowman was an employee of the Sheriff's Department, he was required to obtain written approval for any part-time work. More importantly, she testified that rules in place since 2000 prohibited Plowman from working for any establishment whose primary revenue source came from alcohol sales or any establishment that would bring embarrassment to the Department. Grider claimed the rules would not have allowed Plowman to work for an adult club. She also produced documents reporting his part-time work for 2005-06 showing that he had failed to disclose his work for PT's, although he had disclosed work for several part-time employers, including the Pacers, First Watch Patrol, Thornton Oil Co, the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union and Davis Jean & Fashion. Plowman had also listed work for LP & Associates prior to his work for PT's, which was presumably security consulting work he did in a self-employed capacity.
Defense attorney Jim Voyles sought to prove that the Sheriff's Department made exceptions to the rules Grider testified about. She conceded the Department allowed merit police officers like Plowman to work for businesses that sold alcohol as long as it wasn't their primary source of revenues. Working at hotels and performing security work for the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse fell into this category she explained. Voyles attempted to introduce evidence Sheriff's deputies also worked for Monarch Beverage, an alcohol distributor, but Grider claimed she had no knowledge of employment of deputies by the alcohol distributor. Voyles also emphasized that Plowman had disclosed all of the income he earned from PT's to the IRS through 1099s the company issued to him, but the government countered that the income reported only went to the IRS and not to government investigative agencies.
Similarly, the government offered evidence by City-County Council Clerk Melissa Thompson that Plowman had not disclosed his part-time work for PT's on his statement of economic interest he filed as a councilor in 2009 and 2010 for the prior calendar years. Thompson explained that the council had adopted a new ethics ordinance in 2008 that established a new ethics form for councilors to use that required them to disclose their employers and whether they earned money from self-employment. Voyles sought to mitigate the damaging disclosure by pointing out that it was a new disclosure form and differed from the form he had been required to file as a city employee.
The government also meticulously used Thompson's testimony to introduce evidence pertaining to Plowman's role in the appointment of members of the Board of Zoning Appeals during the period of 2008-09 while he was serving as the Majority Leader. In his leadership role, Plowman automatically sat on the Committee on Committees, which appointed committee members and chairs. Thompson testified that Plowman served on the Metropolitan Development Committee both years and served as its chairman during 2008. Former City-County Councilor Kent Smith chaired the committee in 2009. Thompson explained that the council appointed two members each to the three divisions of the 5-member Board of Zoning Appeals, while the mayor gets two appointees and the Metropolitan Development Commission gets the fifth appointment. During the 2-year period, Thompson testified that Plowman recommended and sponsored the appointments of Brad Klopfenstein, the executive director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association, Larry Walker, a home builder and developer and Alan Retherford, a real estate developer and father of a well-known zoning attorney. Thompson also confirmed evidence of Plowman's own service on the Board of Zoning Appeals from 1999-2002.
Thompson claimed two council appointments during this 2-year period were made based on her personal recommendation. That included law students Matthew Symmons and Mindy Westrick. Thompson said she had met Symmons when they both worked together in the Prosecutor's Office where he worked as a spokesman before leaving to attend law school full-time. Thompson claimed she had met Westrick, an employee of Baker & Daniels, while working on Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's campaign. Voyles also argued on direct examination that the appointment of Walker had been made at the recommendation of Cindy Mowery and not Plowman, although he filed the paperwork for his appointment and sponsored his appointment. Voyles further contended that Retherford's appointment came at the recommendation of former City-County Council President Phil Borst and that Plowman had merely acted on it. Government lawyers played video testimony of the council hearings on the appointments, including a contentious debate over Klopfenstein's appointment due to his job with the alcohol industry and the conflict of interest his job posed, as well as concern about his reappointment a second year due to complaints made against him by neighborhood organizations, including MCANA, about the votes he cast during his first year on the BZA. The government emphasized that it had not alleged that any of Plowman's appointees to the BZA had engaged in any criminal wrongdoing.
Under direct examination by the government's lead prosecutor, Richard Pilger, Webb said he first came to know Plowman while he was working as a manager at Little Bit of Texas, a nightclub featuring live bands on Indianapolis' west side, while Plowman worked a beat as a sergeant for the Marion Co. Sheriff's Department that included the nightclub. Webb said Plowman frequently responded to police runs at the club and frequented the club during his off-duty hours. Webb said the club comped Plowman and other Indianapolis police officers who patronized the club with free admission, drinks and cigars. If Plowman brought friends along with him to the club, Webb indicated that their admission was comped as well.
When Webb later went to work at PT's in Lawrence, he said Plowman was a regular there as well and similarly received comped benefits from the adult club. Webb testified that all police officers and politicians who frequent the club are provided comped benefits. Webb said Plowman would often call in advance when he planned to visit the club so he could let the club's employees know he was coming to the club. Eventually, as Plowman's relationship with the club grew, he expected more than comped business and sought a consulting arrangement with the club according to Webb. The first payment the club made to Plowman came in 2005 for services beginning in January of that year. VCG Holdings, the parent company for the club, formalized an agreement with Plowman in May, 2005, paying him $1,000 a month. A payment of $2,500 was also paid to Plowman for work he performed from January to May, although Webb testified Plowman had initially sought a payment of $5,000 for that work. Although Plowman was initially paid on a monthly basis, in 2008 and 2009, PT's paid Plowman in two advance payments that allowed him to draw his entire annual payment by the end of February of each year. Webb said Plowman had requested the advance payment to assist him with expenses related to his home.
Incredibly, Webb claimed that Plowman initially solicited PT's help in landing the job as State House lobbyist for the Indiana Nighclub Association (INCA), a position then held by State House lobbyist Bill Powers, who also performed legal work for PT's. Webb said the company's president, Michael Ocello, told Plowman that he did not think it would be "kosher" for the organization to employ a police officer as its lobbyist because of "conflict" and the fact that his role would have to be publicly disclosed in a lobbyist registration statement. Plowman solicited the paid consulting work on a letterhead labeled "Lincoln Plowman & Associates."
Notwithstanding the characterization of Plowman's contract with PT's as a consulting contract, documents introduced by the government showed Plowman had lobbied his fellow councilors to vote against a proposed smoking ban ordinance when it was first heard at a council hearing in March, 2005 near the time the club began making payments to him. Webb produced e-mails as early as February, 2005 from Plowman discussing the proposed smoking ban ordinance. In one e-mail to the company's president, Michael Ocello, Plowman wrote, "I've pulled all the favors I can pull for VCG." A May, 2005 e-mail to Osello from Plowman indicated that he had taken the entire week off from his day time job as an IMPD officer to "work on [the smoking ban] issue." "Your money hard at work," Plowman said. Plowman told Ocello that his efforts had paid off and that one of the ordinance's sponsors, Greg Bowes, had assured him there would be an exemption from the smoking ban for bars and adult clubs where patrons had to be at least 21 years of age to enter. Other e-mails from Plowman to Ocello or Webb solicited contributions for his campaign committee or participation in political golf outings.
Some of the e-mails Plowman exchanged with PT's management covered the same period beginning in August, 2009 that undercover FBI agent Mark Aysta had initiated contact with Plowman to see if he would bite at the opportunity to sell influence. Several e-mails discussed state legislation pertaining to Sunday alcohol sales. Ocello told Plowman he wasn't interested in expending any political capital on that issue. In October, 2009, Plowman wrote urgently to Ocello to let him know the smoking ban issue was coming back to the Indianapolis City-County Council. "This is going to be a complete ban," he warned Ocello. Plowman solicited additional money from Ocello to fight the total ban. Webb confirmed that Ocello arranged for a $5,000 campaign contribution to the Greater Indianapolis Finance Committee to fight the ban.
Webb detailed work Plowman performed under the consulting contract during the four-year period, including surveillance camera and motion detector placement, closing time procedures, counterfeit ID detection, counterfeit currency detection, and employee and entertainer safety and security, which supported Plowman's lawyer's contention that it was a legitimate contract for consulting work. Webb said Plowman also performed criminal background checks for potential club employees, although he could not say whether Plowman accessed the law enforcement database furnished through his principal employer, IMPD, to perform the work. Plowman's lawyer, Jim Voyles, countered that the work Plowman did on the smoking ban ordinance would not even impact PT's club in Lawrence because it is one of the three excluded cities under UniGov. The government countered that PT's management feared that once Indianapolis adopted such an ordinance that it would become the model for legislation that would apply statewide. Webb conceded the consulting services Plowman provided weren't really critical to the club's operation and involved very little work over the four-year period.
Prior to offering Webb's testimony, Pilger told jurors that he had agreed to provide testimony and comply with a subpoena issued by the grand jury in the proceedings based on a written proffer made by the government that he would not be prosecuted for an offense related to his compelled testimony. Webb explained that PT's holding company, VCG Holdings, is a publicly-traded company based in Denver, Colorado. The company operates 18 adult clubs in 10 states. Not mentioned in today's testimony were recent news stories about Missouri's Lt. Governor, Peter Kinder, being a frequent patron of one of the company's strip clubs in Sauget, Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis. Kinder, a favorite of the religious right, has been highly criticized for his apparent hypocrisy. One of the club's former entertainers, Tammy Chapman, a former Penthouse model, complained that Kinder had stalked her.
Plowman's attorney not only had to fend off allegations made by the government that Plowman's employment by PT's was made for the purpose of selling influence, he also was faced with allegations Plowman violated police rules governing off-duty employment. The government called as a witness, Angela Grider, the HR Director for the Sheriff's Department, who testified that while Plowman was an employee of the Sheriff's Department, he was required to obtain written approval for any part-time work. More importantly, she testified that rules in place since 2000 prohibited Plowman from working for any establishment whose primary revenue source came from alcohol sales or any establishment that would bring embarrassment to the Department. Grider claimed the rules would not have allowed Plowman to work for an adult club. She also produced documents reporting his part-time work for 2005-06 showing that he had failed to disclose his work for PT's, although he had disclosed work for several part-time employers, including the Pacers, First Watch Patrol, Thornton Oil Co, the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union and Davis Jean & Fashion. Plowman had also listed work for LP & Associates prior to his work for PT's, which was presumably security consulting work he did in a self-employed capacity.
Defense attorney Jim Voyles sought to prove that the Sheriff's Department made exceptions to the rules Grider testified about. She conceded the Department allowed merit police officers like Plowman to work for businesses that sold alcohol as long as it wasn't their primary source of revenues. Working at hotels and performing security work for the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse fell into this category she explained. Voyles attempted to introduce evidence Sheriff's deputies also worked for Monarch Beverage, an alcohol distributor, but Grider claimed she had no knowledge of employment of deputies by the alcohol distributor. Voyles also emphasized that Plowman had disclosed all of the income he earned from PT's to the IRS through 1099s the company issued to him, but the government countered that the income reported only went to the IRS and not to government investigative agencies.
Similarly, the government offered evidence by City-County Council Clerk Melissa Thompson that Plowman had not disclosed his part-time work for PT's on his statement of economic interest he filed as a councilor in 2009 and 2010 for the prior calendar years. Thompson explained that the council had adopted a new ethics ordinance in 2008 that established a new ethics form for councilors to use that required them to disclose their employers and whether they earned money from self-employment. Voyles sought to mitigate the damaging disclosure by pointing out that it was a new disclosure form and differed from the form he had been required to file as a city employee.
The government also meticulously used Thompson's testimony to introduce evidence pertaining to Plowman's role in the appointment of members of the Board of Zoning Appeals during the period of 2008-09 while he was serving as the Majority Leader. In his leadership role, Plowman automatically sat on the Committee on Committees, which appointed committee members and chairs. Thompson testified that Plowman served on the Metropolitan Development Committee both years and served as its chairman during 2008. Former City-County Councilor Kent Smith chaired the committee in 2009. Thompson explained that the council appointed two members each to the three divisions of the 5-member Board of Zoning Appeals, while the mayor gets two appointees and the Metropolitan Development Commission gets the fifth appointment. During the 2-year period, Thompson testified that Plowman recommended and sponsored the appointments of Brad Klopfenstein, the executive director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association, Larry Walker, a home builder and developer and Alan Retherford, a real estate developer and father of a well-known zoning attorney. Thompson also confirmed evidence of Plowman's own service on the Board of Zoning Appeals from 1999-2002.
Thompson claimed two council appointments during this 2-year period were made based on her personal recommendation. That included law students Matthew Symmons and Mindy Westrick. Thompson said she had met Symmons when they both worked together in the Prosecutor's Office where he worked as a spokesman before leaving to attend law school full-time. Thompson claimed she had met Westrick, an employee of Baker & Daniels, while working on Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's campaign. Voyles also argued on direct examination that the appointment of Walker had been made at the recommendation of Cindy Mowery and not Plowman, although he filed the paperwork for his appointment and sponsored his appointment. Voyles further contended that Retherford's appointment came at the recommendation of former City-County Council President Phil Borst and that Plowman had merely acted on it. Government lawyers played video testimony of the council hearings on the appointments, including a contentious debate over Klopfenstein's appointment due to his job with the alcohol industry and the conflict of interest his job posed, as well as concern about his reappointment a second year due to complaints made against him by neighborhood organizations, including MCANA, about the votes he cast during his first year on the BZA. The government emphasized that it had not alleged that any of Plowman's appointees to the BZA had engaged in any criminal wrongdoing.
Bush Makes Secret Trip To Carmel
It's not often that a former president slips in and out of town for a visit without notice. Former President George W. Bush did that just last Friday. Only Fox 59 News reported after the fact that Bush had visited the Carmel mansion of Forrest Lucas on Friday and played a round of golf at Crooked Stick. The purpose of Bush's event according to Fox 59 News was to attend an event hosted by the Indiana chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.
According to the book, "JFK: The CIA, Vietnam and the Plot To Assassinate John F. Kennedy," the Young Presidents Organization is closely associated with Harvard Business School and the CIA. The books says the organization is made up of men who are presidents of their own companies and under the age of 40. The CIA's role is to introduce young leaders in foreign countries for the purpose of opening export-import talks and franchising discussions. The book talks about how the CIA's first Director, Allen Dulles, who was a close friend of George H.W. Bush's father, Prescott Bush, went to Puerto Rico to an event hosted by the YPO just as the Bay of Pigs operation was being launched by President John F. Kennedy in Cuba. In Dulles' absence, his underlings made key operational decisions in what turned out to be a failed mission that badly embarrassed the Kennedy administration. Kennedy, in turn, sacked Dulles, a move that angered the powers within the growing military industrial complex former President Dwight Eisenhower had warned the country against and as the story goes, led them to plot his assassination.
It would be interesting to learn a little bit more about who started the Indiana chapter of the YPO and who their members are. The company's website doesn't identify the Indiana chapter's members. I wouldn't be surprised if Beurt SerVaas, a former OSS officer, had a role in founding the Indiana chapter. YPO has been masked in secrecy since its founding by Ray Hickok of Hickok Manufacturing in 1950. According to the organization's website, former GE CEO Jack Welch and billionaire Warren Buffet were on hand to help the organization celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2000. According to Russ Baker's book, "Family of Secrets", both Bush and his father worked for the CIA fresh out of college before ever entering politics. George H.W. Bush would later become Director of the CIA during the Ford administration.
The man who led America during the 9/11 terror attacks visited Indiana just prior to the 10-year anniversary of the tragic event.
Former President George W. Bush showed up at Forest Lucas' mansion in Carmel Friday to attend a private event hosted by the Indiana chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.
Earlier on Friday, the 43rd presdient enjoyed a round of golf with Pete Dye at Crooked Stick golf club in Carmel.
Governor Mitch Daniels also attended the event at the Lucas mansion. Daniels was Bush's budget director during his first term as president and was sought after to run for president himself. Daniels decided against a run for the White House due to family reasons.
According to the book, "JFK: The CIA, Vietnam and the Plot To Assassinate John F. Kennedy," the Young Presidents Organization is closely associated with Harvard Business School and the CIA. The books says the organization is made up of men who are presidents of their own companies and under the age of 40. The CIA's role is to introduce young leaders in foreign countries for the purpose of opening export-import talks and franchising discussions. The book talks about how the CIA's first Director, Allen Dulles, who was a close friend of George H.W. Bush's father, Prescott Bush, went to Puerto Rico to an event hosted by the YPO just as the Bay of Pigs operation was being launched by President John F. Kennedy in Cuba. In Dulles' absence, his underlings made key operational decisions in what turned out to be a failed mission that badly embarrassed the Kennedy administration. Kennedy, in turn, sacked Dulles, a move that angered the powers within the growing military industrial complex former President Dwight Eisenhower had warned the country against and as the story goes, led them to plot his assassination.
It would be interesting to learn a little bit more about who started the Indiana chapter of the YPO and who their members are. The company's website doesn't identify the Indiana chapter's members. I wouldn't be surprised if Beurt SerVaas, a former OSS officer, had a role in founding the Indiana chapter. YPO has been masked in secrecy since its founding by Ray Hickok of Hickok Manufacturing in 1950. According to the organization's website, former GE CEO Jack Welch and billionaire Warren Buffet were on hand to help the organization celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2000. According to Russ Baker's book, "Family of Secrets", both Bush and his father worked for the CIA fresh out of college before ever entering politics. George H.W. Bush would later become Director of the CIA during the Ford administration.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Citizen Complains To Vaughn About Lack Of Public Input Into Board Appointees
Community activist Clarke Kahlo sent the letter below to City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn that is spot on in its criticism of his and fellow councilors' refusal to allow members of the public to offer comment at public hearings on council appointees in light of the testimony in the ongoing public corruption trial of former City-County Councilor Lincoln Plowman, who boasted to an undercover FBI agent how he controlled zoning boards through his power of appointment as a leader of the council. Incredibly, Vaughn blamed the public for acting inappropriately at public hearings by sharing their opinions on potential appointees as a reason for denying the public comment:
Dear Mr. Vaughn,
When I contacted Lincoln Plowman by email late in 2009 to inquire about what specific attributes he felt that appointee Alan Retherford brought to the BZA, I received no response. His non-response signaled that councilors don’t necessarily want to hear from citizens, in advance of committee appointment meetings, about their picks.
As you know, at the July 25th meeting of the Metropolitan Development Committee, chairperson McHenry refused to allow me (and others present) to comment about the BZA appointment process. Councilor McHenry later defended her prohibition in part by saying that no one had contacted her with concerns prior to the meeting. Such a rationale is completely disingenuous, in my opinion, because in the present environment, too many councilors don’t want to hear from citizens and too often are rude and rebuff them for their efforts, especially when the input is interpreted to be “negative” or contrary to the prescribed political pick.
A good bit of water has passed under the bridge in the short time since my December, 2009 inquiry to former councilor Plowman. By unwritten mutual agreement with the council, Mr. Retherford stepped down in March of this year after 20 years of board tenure (and following a contentious and acrimonious re-appointment process lasting about 7 months). And Mr. Plowman has resigned in disgrace from his council seat and his police department post following his indictment on extortion bribery charges following a sting on a zoning issue. The last several days (September 7-9) of reporting/blogging by Advance Indiana and Had Enough Indy on the Plowman trial in federal court have cast new and needed light on the illicit and seamy underside of zoning and alcohol manipulation by some powerful ex-councilors and their puppet appointees.
At the August 25th council meeting, you made derogatory general comments about a few (likely including me) in the community who have supposedly improperly assailed well-intended BZA and alcohol board volunteers (appointees), using that fiction as a reason for not allowing public comments. (To the extent that the Council’s adopted rule provides total discretion to chairs who would use it to condone secrecy and political chicanery over the public interest and accountability, that rule should be discarded as a vestige of Indianapolis’ archaic political modus.
You also went so far as to allude to “potentially criminal acts” by certain public. It’s absurd, and insulting, for you to imply criminality by any member of the public simply for demanding accountability and proper performance from board appointees. As the evidence to date in the Plowman case strongly suggests, if any criminality is present in the board appointment process, it’s been perpetrated, not by any concerned or vocal public, but by a corrupt councilor and his corrupt appointees to the BZA and Alcohol Board. These people, in my experience, too often ignore the statutory criteria for determinations and simply vote the way they are instructed by their appointers. Jennifer Ping even made this point expressly in her comments at the 12-6-10 alcohol board hearing in the 5215 College application (which application you supported).
Instead of publicly attacking neighborhood advocates who merely seek the equal protection of our enacted laws, (and to have their voices heard), you and your committee chairs/members should be encouraging participation and listening to what is said. You’ll never be able to evaluate the merits of their case if you deny them a hearing. It might well be that they can alert the council to problems in the making or prevent an incompetent or a scoundrel from becoming entrenched. As Justice Brandeis once said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”.
Sincerely,
Clarke Kahlo
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